Sunshine State Games LED Saber Among Annual National Tour Stops
CLICK HERE for full results
In the world of sword sports, there are sports real and sports imagined. Then there’s the Saber Legion Suncrusher Series and its annual Kyber Open in Southeast Orlando.
It’s a world that finds itself in a delta between fitness, combat and science fiction geekery.
It’s a world where male and female athletes from 18 to 60 years old, compete in 25 feet by 25 feet rings, for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Their standard sabers resembling 1/8 inch thick fluorescent light bulbs with a handle, reach a maximum of 51 inches long, battle in a variety of “deliciously nerdy,” but well protected gear.
Leading the charge in Florida’s Sunshine State Games is one of only two athletes in the sport to be declared a “Centurion,” who has fought in 100+ matches, Jared Graham, who currently lives in Plantation. He faced off with the other centurion, Bobby Zavala, in the semifinals of the Standard Primary Bracket on Saturday, at the XL Soccer World Lake Nona Complex.
The night before Graham lost his World Title Belt to Zavala, who traveled to Orlando from Tennessee, for a Saber Legion Card in Clermont, which had the look and feel of a professional wrestling pay-per-view event.
Promotional flyers were circulated with Graham and Zavala touting their accomplishments, along with several undercard matchups.
The Suncrusher Series Kyber Open at the XL Soccer World Complex is one of a handful of annual Saber Legion tournaments held nationwide. Florida’s November event joins other regional events in Wisconsin, Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, California, Las Vegas and the home of the Saber Legion Headquarters, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Athletes from the other Saber Legion hotbeds joined the competition in Florida for what’s considered the “MMA of Sword Sports.”
While Mixed Martial Arts combines elements of a variety of Martial Arts, The Saber Legion combines elements of Fencing, Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA), Japanese sword fighting and others.
“Each sword sport has it’s own nuance,” explained Clint Darby, from Westminster, Maryland. “But like all other competitive sports, the most important part of this sport is footwork.”
Besides the Standard Sword event to start the two days of competition, with the largest draw of the tournament, 34 athletes, the Kyber Open featured tag team matches, women’s matches and exotic weapons competition.
Zavala repeated his success of the previous night in winning the Standard Primary Gold Medal, going undefeated in seven matches. He won the final against Seth Beam, of California, by a 5-4 margin.
With the 2:30 clock winding down and the score tied a 4-4, Zavala and Beam allowed the clock to run to :00 and have a winner take all joust. After measuring one another for a short time, Zavala scored the winning point with a lunge that connected with Beam’s shoulder.
“I’m good at jumping and distance and that doesn’t usually work with Seth Beam, because he’s a defensive fighter and very tall,” said Zavala, who appeared on the American Ninja Warrior television show competition five times. “I hadn’t used a move like that throughout our match and gave it one last hail mary and the lunge got through.”
While the top ranked fighters advanced out of pool play to the Primary Final Bracket, those just starting out were encouraged to continue their efforts in the Redemption Final Bracket. Among those was Orlando resident Nydia Ranero, who fought with a Yoda doll strapped to her back.
During one of her matches, one of the judges on each side of the 25 foot square ring, urged her to “use the force.”
“He’s my buddy and he makes me easy to identify when I’m fighting,” Ranero said. “These are my people. I was introduced to them about five years ago and fell in love with them. They’re very supportive.”
Danny Utley, also traveled to Orlando from Nashville, and is a member of the Saber Strong Club that meets for practices every Friday night.
“We have anywhere from four to 20 people show up,” he said. “I never thought I would end up traveling to Wisconsin, Maryland, Virginia and Florida for Saber Fighting. But here I am.”
Keeping things running smoothly is Melodie Graham, “The Director,” and Jared’s wife of 16 years (Melodie and Jared are on the left in photo, with Andy and Shannon Cameron). They met while she was teaching English to University students in Japan, while Jared was serving in the U.S. Army as a satellite communications officer.
They had a life together before starting their life as The Saber Legion’s Power Couple.
At a Dallas Comic Con event, Jared purchased a light saber and wanted to learn how to use it properly. His initial research led him to the Saber Legion, which formed in 2015. Before long, he started training, fighting and found his way into a leadership role.
They moved to Melodie’s native South Florida to be closer to her family, where they coordinate the annual Suncrusher Series Kyber Open in Orlando, with Nathan Pumphery, an Orlando resident.
As the co-charter rep for the state of Florida, along with Graham, Pumphery reached out to the Sunshine State Games after hearing LED Saber partnered with the Badger State Games.
“I looked at the list of sports the Sunshine State Games offered and thought we need to be involved and I made the call,” he said.
Now in its fourth year, the Kyber Open is one of the top draws on the Saber Legion annual calendar of events. The sport will celebrate its 10th Anniversary in 2025.
Jared Graham sees plenty of room for growth in the sport with now 8,000 athletes worldwide.
“It’s all based on people coming out and giving it a try,” he said. “It’s more of a community with a sport inside of it. Not a sport and its community.”
He pointed to groups of curious onlookers from other events going on at the XL Soccer World facility. “All we can do is tell them what we’re all about and encourage them to give us a try. We have a solid core of people and when new folks show up they feel welcome.”
Maybe with the help of Nydia Ranero’s Yoda doll, the force will reach out and grab the attention of a future Centurion.